Paste any text or URL and instantly see word counts, keyword density, and n-grams. Wordly filters stop words, handles stems/lemmas, supports multiple languages, and flags over-optimization—perfect for editors, SEOs, and content teams.

How often do your key phrases actually appear—and do they read naturally? That’s the core question Wordly answers. Paste your content (or fetch a page), and Wordly produces a neat snapshot of which words and phrases dominate, how they’re distributed, and whether your copy looks balanced or over-optimized. It’s not about gaming search engines; it’s about clarity, focus, and reader experience.

This article is fully original and written to be plagiarism-safe. You’ll learn what Wordly measures, how it calculates density responsibly, and how to use the results to improve readability and alignment—without drifting into keyword stuffing.

What Wordly actually does (in plain language)

• Counts words accurately: Removes boilerplate, normalizes punctuation, and handles Unicode so accented letters and non-Latin scripts are treated correctly.
• Calculates keyword density: Reports relative frequency (e.g., 2.1% of words are “analytics”) and shows where terms cluster in your text (title, subheads, body, captions).
• Extracts phrases (n-grams): Surfaces meaningful bigrams/trigrams (“customer support”, “page speed insights”) so you see concepts, not just single tokens.
• Filters stop words: Excludes common function words (“the”, “and”, “of”) so the signal isn’t buried by filler. You can toggle per language.
• Understands variations: Optional stemming/lemmatization groups “optimize/optimized/optimization” together for a truer picture of intent.
• Highlights over-optimization risks: Flags unusually high repetition, unnatural clusters, and mechanically repeated phrases.
• Supports multiple languages: Switch stop-word lists and tokenization rules for languages beyond English.
• Exports & compares: Save a snapshot or compare two drafts to see how edits changed your focus.

Outcome: You get clear counts and actionable context to refine headlines, tighten sections, and balance keywords with natural language.

Why density matters (and where it doesn’t)

Historically, some SEOs chased “ideal” percentages. That’s a dead end. Modern search cares about helpfulness, intent match, clarity, and breadth. Density is still useful—but as diagnostic context, not a target score.

Use Wordly to:

• Reveal drift: See when a draft leans too hard on a pet phrase or ignores an essential term.
• Guide editing: Replace repetitive wording with synonyms and clarifiers to improve readability.
• Align structure: Confirm that headings reflect the main topics your body text actually covers.
• QC translations & rewrites: Ensure focus survives localization and ghostwriting.

Don’t use Wordly to:

• Chase a magic number. There isn’t one. A helpful page sometimes repeats a term because the concept requires it; other times you’ll benefit from variety.
• Stuff synonyms. Swapping in awkward variants for the sake of “semantic diversity” can hurt clarity.

How Wordly measures frequency and density (the honest way)

1. Tokenization & cleanup
   Wordly normalizes whitespace, strips markup noise, and tokenizes text with Unicode awareness so words in different scripts are recognized.
2. Stop-word filtering
   Frequent function words are removed (configurable per language), leaving content words that signal meaning.
3. Case folding & accents
   “Analytics” and “ANALYTICS” are treated the same. You can choose to keep or fold diacritics depending on language norms.
4. Stemming/lemmatization (optional)
   Group inflected forms—“optimize/optimized/optimization”—to one root, or keep distinct counts if tone differences matter.
5. N-gram extraction
   Wordly scans for common bigrams/trigrams, skipping stop-word-only chunks and collapsing overlapping phrases.
6. Density math
   Density = term count ÷ total word count (after filtering) × 100. You can report density against raw total (including stop words) for apples-to-apples with older audits.
7. Positional weighting (optional)
   See separate densities for title, H2/H3, intro, and body; helpful when headings don’t reflect content focus.

What “good” looks like (practical guidance)

• Focus, not fixation: If a key concept doesn’t appear in the title, a subhead, and a few body sentences, your piece may feel unfocused.
• Natural variety: Healthy pages mention related entities and synonyms. If one term is 3–4× more frequent than its peers without a clear reason, consider variety.
• Even distribution: Repetition clumped in one paragraph often signals padding. Spread mentions where they’re contextually relevant.
• Reader first: If a sentence sounds odd when you read it aloud, density is not your problem—clarity is.

Features you’ll actually use

• Paste text or crawl a URL: Grab live copy (with an option to ignore nav/footer).
• Language toggle & custom stop-words: Choose your language and add brand-specific fillers to ignore (“click here”, “learn more”).
• Smart grouping: Enable lemmatization for high-level audits; disable it when you care about exact word forms.
• Section lenses: See counts by title, subheads, body, alt text, and captions to catch mismatches.
• Entity hints (optional): Surface detected proper nouns (brands, people, places) as a separate list to avoid skewing common-word density.
• Comparison mode: Diff two drafts or two competitors to see where your coverage overlaps or diverges.
• CSV/PDF export: Share snapshots with teammates or attach to an editorial checklist.

How to use Wordly in your workflow (10 minutes, tops)

1. Run an initial scan of your draft or live page.
2. Read the top 10–20 terms and phrases. Do they represent your page’s actual purpose?
3. Open the section lens. If headings don’t mirror the main terms, consider revising titles/subheads.
4. Check the “over-optimization” panel. If a term is >3–4% in a long article (context-dependent), reread those sections for repetition.
5. Add variety where it helps. Replace mechanical repeats with precise synonyms or concrete examples.
6. Re-scan. Confirm your main topics are still prominent and the copy reads better.

Use cases beyond SEO

• Editorial QA: Catch accidental tics (e.g., overusing “robust”) before publication.
• Content briefs: Validate that a draft hits the agreed topics from your brief or outline.
• Academic writing & reports: Ensure terminology is consistent and key terms aren’t underused.
• Localization checks: After translation, verify that core terms retained reasonable prominence.
• Support & docs: Make sure product names, feature labels, and error terms appear where users expect them.

Common pitfalls—and how Wordly helps you avoid them

1. Counting boilerplate
   Problem: Nav, footer, and cookie banners inflate counts.
   Wordly: Option to analyze main content only or paste pure text.
2. Proper nouns skew results
   Problem: Brand and author names dominate.
   Wordly: Entity separation and an ignore list keep density honest.
3. Language mismatch
   Problem: Using English stop words for Spanish (or mixed content).
   Wordly: Language selection with per-language lists and custom overrides.
4. Stemming confusion
   Problem: “Optimum” grouped with “optimize.”
   Wordly: Toggle stem/lemma off for exactness, on for thematic audits.
5. Chasing a percentage
   Problem: Draft is warped to hit 2.5%.
   Wordly: “Over-optimization” warnings and guidance stress readability first.

Best practices for teams

• Set a simple policy: Titles/subheads should naturally include the primary topic. Body copy uses plain synonyms where it improves flow.
• Keep an ignore list: Add your brand name, author bylines, boilerplate CTA phrases, and site-wide labels.
• Use comparison mode in briefs: When aligning to a topic, compare your draft to reputable sources to gauge coverage gaps—not to copy, but to spot concepts you missed.
• Review aloud: After every density pass, read your draft out loud. If it sounds robotic, revise.
• Measure after edits: Run Wordly again post-revision so the team can see what changed (and why).

Ethical and accessibility notes

• Write for humans. Density should follow from clarity, not dictate it.
• Avoid dark patterns. Don’t smuggle keywords into alt text or ARIA labels where they don’t help users.
• Respect originality. Use Wordly to analyze, not to mimic another site’s term pattern.
• Inclusive language: Watch for repeated jargon that excludes readers; use the counts to simplify.

FAQs

Is there an “ideal” keyword density?
No. Treat density as a diagnostic. Aim for clarity, coverage, and usefulness—not a percentage.

Can Wordly analyze a whole URL?
Yes. It can fetch a page and focus on main content, skipping nav/footer when you choose.

Does it handle multiple languages?
Yes. Switch stop-word lists and tokenization by language, and add your own ignores.

What are n-grams and why do they matter?
They’re multi-word phrases (e.g., “site speed”). They reveal concepts your audience actually searches and you actually explain.

Will lemmatization change counts?
It groups related forms, so “optimize/optimized” count as one. Turn it off if you need exact word forms.

Can I export results?
Yes—CSV for spreadsheets and PDF for quick shares.

Will this improve rankings?
It’ll improve focus and readability. Rankings depend on many factors—quality, intent match, links, UX, and technical health among them.

Suggested hero image & alt text

Concept: A minimalist “Wordly — Word Frequency & Density” dashboard on a laptop. Left: input or URL field with an Analyze button. Center: a tidy table of top words with Count and Density %. Right: a Phrases (n-grams) card and a small Over-optimization warnings panel. A toggle bar shows Language, Stop words: On, Lemmas: On, Main content only. Neutral UI, no real brand names.

Alt text: “Interface listing top words and keyword density with a phrases panel, language/stop-word toggles, and an analyze button.”

Final takeaway

Wordly isn’t a “score machine.” It’s a clarity tool. Use it to see what your draft truly emphasizes, spot unhelpful repetition, and align titles, headings, and body copy with your core topics. Keep your reader first, let density follow naturally, and your content will be more focused, more readable, and more trustworthy.